


all my good years

by moonbeamlex



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, Trans!Martin, and georgie's dad is an oc character that exists, but in a nice way, he and georgie are roommates, martin's first day at college, there's no relationships in this technically but martin has his canonical crush on jon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22192789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonbeamlex/pseuds/moonbeamlex
Summary: The name on the door was wrong.
Comments: 23
Kudos: 169





	all my good years

**Author's Note:**

> there's a lot of feelings thrown into this one. 
> 
> this felt a little bit harder to write than normal, so please feel free to throw some constructive criticism at me!!

The name on the door was wrong. It shouldn’t matter much. It was just...well. He had gotten his hopes up, a bit, when he got the email letting him know about his room assignment. He had...almost convinced himself that “Georgia” was simply a typo, that his roommate would be named George and maybe play football or something. George seemed like the type of guy that would play football and then it would be really interesting sharing a room with him because Martin hadn’t ever really played football at all before and maybe George would teach him and they’d become friends and…

But. The name on the door was wrong. Not Georgia. That was still...well, still Georgia. It was his name that was wrong. He should have expected it, shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up. His mother, standing impatiently beside him, did not seem to care that Martin was having a bit of a...crisis was too strong a word, really, for something he’d been dealing with for years, but a  _ something _ and shoved past him to enter the room without him.

His roommate was already there, had turned around, excited at the appearance of her new roommate. She was pretty, her hair in a bun and really nice skin that made Martin feel a little bit jealous and insecure, and she only looked confused for a second. 

The Martin’s mum snapped his name. The wrong name. Martin looked away from his new roommate to look back towards her. She had already thrown the one thing she had helped Martin carry in (a pillow, pink hearts on the pillowcase, it had been Martin’s since he was younger and he was a little emotionally attached, even now) on the spare bed and wasn’t looking at Martin. She was rummaging through her purse, looking for her keys. “I’ll be going now,” she said, when she looked up, keys in hand, and saw Martin was watching. “I’ll see you for Christmas.” 

And then she was walking out the door. Martin sat his bags down on the floor and immediately ran a hand through his hair. It was falling in his face. He should really get a haircut. The curls were getting a little ridiculous, and when they fell in his face it made it more obvious that he was upset, that he was trying not to cry at the way his mother made him feel or slide down onto the floor and let himself mope… 

“Hi,” his roommate said, snapping him out of his small moment of self pity. “I’m Georgie. What’s your name?” Georgie knew his name, his mom had just said it out loud less than five minutes ago, she must have heard. Even if she hadn’t, it was on the door, it was--. Martin paused. She was asking. There had to be a reason she was asking. 

“Um,” he said, and then thought to himself,  _ gee, eloquent Martin, what an introduction _ . He cleared his throat, trying to clear out the upset and the frustration at himself and the bewilderment from this entire conversation and just portray...he didn’t know. Confidence? “Hi. I’m Martin.” 

“It’s nice to meet you, Martin,” Georgie said, and Martin felt....Wow. That was. Well, that was new. He wasn’t used to people...accepting? Quite that easily, or that quickly, or without a long and drawn out explanation that usually ended with a, “Well, you don’t really  _ mind _ though, right?” 

Before Martin could say anything to express his gratitude (or maybe he shouldn’t do that, he didn’t want to make this  _ weird _ , he should just… he should just ask her if she needed help unpacking or something along those lines, right?) a man came into the room. He was tall, taller than Martin for sure, and he looked so much like Georgie it was clear within seconds that he was related to her. “Alright, Jonathan is settled in, what’s next?” he asked, before seeming to notice there was someone new in the room. 

Martin was nervous. Dads didn’t...well, he didn’t have much experience with dads. From the experience he  _ did _ have they weren’t usually...well, the nicest? It must have been obvious how tense he was, because Georgie crossed the room to him and put a hand on his arm. Martin flinched, fast and reactionary, not used to being touched, and Georgie immediately lifted her hand from the contact. Instead, she just stood beside him and smiled at her dad. “Papa, this is my new roommate. His mama didn’t stay and help him unpack, do you mind if we help?” The last question wasn’t to her father, but to Martin. 

Martin blinked, looking down at his bags, and then back up at Georgie. “Oh. Um. No, I don’t mind. Thank you.” 

Georgie’s dad seemed to understand almost as quickly as his daughter had. He smiled and held out a hand to Martin, giving him time to consider it before reaching out and taking the handshake. “Firm handshake, that’s a good sign. I’m Nicolas, Georgie’s dad.” 

Martin couldn’t stop the smile at the compliment, or the slight blush that colored his cheeks. “I’m Martin. Thank you.” 

“Well, Martin, we’re going to finish unpacking and then go out for dinner. One last respite, before you guys are forced to live on cafeteria food for the next six months. Would you like to come?” Martin would love to come. He couldn’t remember the last time he had gone out to eat, maybe a birthday party back when he was still invited to those and his mom had been able to spare a little extra for him to splurge on the fast food, but… 

“Oh. Um,” the blush that had colored his cheeks earlier was out in full force now. “I. Well, thank you, but I have a meal plan and I.” He trailed off. It never got easier, explaining that you  _ couldn’t afford _ something as simple as a meal out.

Nicolas seemed to understand. “It’s on me,” he said, which, well it almost felt  _ worse _ , until Georgie smiled at him. 

“It’s okay, Martin, really. He adores taking my friends out to eat, and Jon will be coming too, so you won’t be stuck with just us.” Martin had no idea who Jon was, probably a brother, but...well, it was his first night of college. 

Maybe one time wouldn’t be that bad. “Okay,” he said, quietly. Georgie’s smile grew wider and Nicolas clapped him on the shoulder. This time, Martin didn’t flinch. He kept his shock inside, or, at least, he tried to, to the best of his ability. It was clearly going to take some getting used to, being casually touched like that. 

Being touched at all. 

Georgie kept up an easy stream of chatter as they started to unpack, asking about his life and his interests and telling stories about her dad and whoever Jon was (maybe a boyfriend? Brother made less sense, after some of the stories, but she never actually stopped to  _ explain _ ) and even a few compliments towards Martin. “I’m so jealous of your freckles,” she had said as she was helping him make his bed.

Martin had never thought of them as something  _ desirable _ before. They’d always been a nuisance. “Thank you,” he had said, sincerely, and then commented on the color of her eyes. He hoped it wasn’t creepy. Georgie’s smile made him think he was doing okay. He shared bits and pieces of his story, that spiders were his favorite animal, that he had skipped a grade, actually, and that he was planning on studying creative writing. Georgie had given him a high five at that one, before explaining that she was doing audio engineering. 

“Okay,” Georgie had said finally, standing with her hands on her hips and scanning the room. “I think we’ve done as much as we can for right now. We can hang up the fairy lights when we get home, after the floor meeting, and maybe we can get a fluffier rug at some point, but…by golly, Martin, I think we’ve done it.” 

Martin felt a little proud. The room was...well, it was  _ nice.  _ Better than he had been expecting, for his first dorm room. Georgie even had a desktop computer, a nice one, that she told him could double as a tv for when friends came over for movie night. Friends. Movie night. She had said it so confidently that Martin was only a little shocked that she was including him in the plans. 

“I’m proud of you,” Nicolas said, dropping a kiss to Georgie’s head, before gesturing towards the door. “I’m also starving. Let’s go collect Jon and head out, before I start eating the tasteful bedding you spent three months choosing.” Georgie only made a token protest towards her dad’s teasing, and then Martin was following them out of the door. He paused, eyes drawn to the door, and Georgie followed his gaze. 

“Tear it down,” she said. Martin looked at her, shocked, but she continued. “What are they going to do? Besides, we’ll make new ones when we get home. I  _ hate _ being called Georgia.” And with that, she reached up and tore the purple butterfly bearing her name off the door. She crumpled it in her hand and then nodded at Martin, encouraging. 

Martin smiled at her, bright and genuinely cheerful. Then he tore down the pink butterfly with the wrong name on it. 

It turned out that Jon was not a brother. He was a friend, a best friend, who had a room down the hallway from them. His door had two footballs on it, one  _ Jonathan _ and one  _ Timothy _ . Martin wondered, while they waited for him to answer the door, if Jon would want to tear his down as well. Maybe  _ Jon _ played football, and could teach Martin. 

He realized pretty quickly that was probably not the case when the door opened and a boy slipped through. He was shorter than Martin, his hair was a mess, his glasses looked like they were about to fall off his face, and he was wearing a sweater vest. 

Martin choked a little.

Holy shit, Jon was  _ cute _ . 

“Georgie,” Jon said, voice low, and wow, okay, his voice was  _ hot _ , “get me out of here. Quick, before he realizes I’m leaving and tries to stop me.”    


Georgie laughed, looping her arm with Jon’s, and leading them away from the door. “Oh, come off it, he can’t be that bad,” she was saying. Martin followed behind them, feeling a little...well, okay, it was always awkward, when you were a new friend meeting the best friend. He hoped that he could call Georgie a friend, at least. They were living together, it would be awkward if...well if Georgie was just being  _ nice,  _ or just trying to impress her father, or. 

Jon hadn’t seemed to have noticed him yet. In fact, Jon didn’t seem to notice him, too busy on a rant about his roommate and how he wouldn’t just put on a  _ shirt _ , to realize Martin was with them until they were at the restaurant and Martin was sitting right across from him. “Oh,” Jon said, stopping in the middle of his sentence. “Wait, who are you?” 

“Uh,” Martin said, wondering if Jon was actually intending to come across as rude, or if he was just...well, maybe Martin wasn’t the best at judging social interactions, so maybe Jon wasn’t the best at  _ making  _ them either, but. 

“This is Martin,” Georgie said, cutting in to save him from his stuttering. “He’s my roommate.” 

And. Wow. Oh wow. 

That was. Martin had never actually had anyone  _ else _ introduce him before. It seemed like he was always jumping in to correct or just sucking it up and letting it go. It felt...it felt really nice, having Georgie introduce him to Jon.

And when Jon just nodded, already seemingly distracted again, and said, “Oh, hello Martin, I’m Jon,” Martin thought his heart might actually be swelling. He had read about that happening before, he thought, or...wait, no maybe that was in The Grinch, but it seemed like it was maybe possible? 

Martin smiled at Jon, a probably awkward smile, but a genuine one. And Jon. Well, he looked a bit awkward, as well, like maybe he wasn’t used to interacting with anyone that wasn’t Georgie or Nicolas, but he smiled back. 

Martin was  _ screwed _ . 

He learned more about Georgie and Jon during dinner. Jon was studying parapsychology, which...well, Martin had barely been aware that was something you _could_ study, and he and Georgie had dated when they were younger but it had been apparently too weird because they’d met when they were six. Nicolas kept cutting in with embarrassing stories from their childhoods, leaning over and stage whispering to Martin, like they were conspiring against the other two, and Martin couldn’t help but laugh along. 

It was an incredibly nice experience. He had gotten one of the least expensive things on the menu, a simple mac and cheese, not wanting to  _ intrude _ or be a burden, but even the food was excellent and Martin had to stop himself from shoveling it all in his mouth in one go. 

He was a growing boy, he had an  _ excuse _ . But he was also trying to impress these new friends, so he kept to his best table manners. 

“Martin,” Jon said, at one point, and Martin looked up, locking eyes with him. Jon’s eyes were pretty. Well, all of Jon was pretty, but the eyes were kinda hidden behind the glasses, so it was a bit harder to tell if you weren’t  _ looking _ properly, but they were pretty and-- “Martin?” Jon pronounced his name nice, too.  _ Mahtin _ . 

Gosh, hearing his name from other people’s lips was...it was a bit intoxicating. It made him both want to grin, goofy and a little bit like an idiot probably, and also cry. In fact, the tears seemed...embarrassingly possible. It was... Oh. Jon had been trying to talk to him. 

Jon was looking at him, a little confused, and as Martin tried to refocus on him, he saw Jon turn to Georgie and ask, voice lower than it had been, as if he was at least  _ trying _ to keep it between the two of them, “Is Martin crying?” 

Martin wiped hurriedly at his eyes. Ridiculous. What a first impression. “No, no, sorry, I’m fine, I was just. I zone out sometimes, sorry Jon. What were you saying?” 

Jon only looked a little concerned, but apparently didn’t want to press it, instead picking up the previous thread of conversation and continuing on with his rant about some scientist who had apparently recently come out against the field of parapsychology in general. Georgie’s eyes were a little glazed over, but now that Martin had pulled himself out of...well his  _ feelings  _ he actually found listening to Jon a little fascinating. 

He was almost disappointed when they had to leave the restaurant to go back to the dorms. Almost, because he was walking into the mandatory floor meeting with Jon and Georgie both, looking for all intents and purposes like he had already made friends. Nicolas had left them at the building, dropping another kiss to Georgie’s head and ruffling Jon’s hair, despite his scowl, and finally, reaching his hand out for another handshake from Martin. 

“Take care of them,” he told Martin, nodding towards the two teenagers standing off to the side. “They’ll take care of you in return.” 

Martin nodded, seriously and stubbornly refusing to let himself cry. Again. “Thank you,” he said, once more, and Nicolas had shaken his head like it was nothing and then waved goodbye. 

The floor meeting was...intimidating. There were around fifty people in the room, crowded onto what looked like rather uncomfortable couches and armchairs, some sitting on the floor and one brave man perching on the top of a ping pong table. Georgie and Jon didn’t seem to mind standing in the back, and Martin didn’t complain either. 

It was a pretty easy meeting. Martin actually found it...maybe a little bit nice, if in a cliche way. Their RA was explaining the rules of the floor, of the dorm, of the university, but clearly trying to come across like he was actually  _ relaxed _ about them. Martin wondered if that was really true. Then, they went around the room and introduced themselves. Just name, pronouns, major, and a fun fact about yourself. 

Martin tried to focus on as many as he could. A few answers stuck with him more than others. _Michael, no, undeclared, I had to go to the hospital when I was six because I ran with scissors_ was his favorite stand out. Well, if he ignored _Georgie, audio engineering, I lost one of my teeth in a tragic skateboarding accident_ and _Jonathan, parapsychology, I like to read_. Not really a fun fact, or anything new even, not after what he had learned about Jon from dinner, but it was nice anyway. 

Then it was his turn. “Hi,” he said, already feeling his face start to flush. “I’m Martin. Um, my pronouns are he/him,” and before he could get to his major he heard someone laugh. Oh. Oh that was. Martin felt his stomach drop, felt tears welling in his eyes, and looked towards the noise. Some guy was smirking, staring straight at him, and Martin was. He didn’t know what to  _ do _ besides  _ cry _ and he didn’t want to do that-- 

At once, two things happened. One, Georgie took his hand, and Martin glanced over at her. She and Jon were both glaring at the asshole and...their glares were kind of scary. Two, the boy standing beside the offender stomped on his foot. Hard. The asshole yelped, clearly in pain, and the boy who had stepped on him simply smiled at him. “Whoops,” he said, “accident. Martin, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” 

Martin stared at him for a minute, because holy shit this guy was  _ hot _ and had just called him by  _ name _ and. And wow, okay, he definitely just winked at him. Martin could tell he was bright red as he stammered through the rest of his introduction. He struggled for a fun fact for a second before settling on, “I speak Polish,” and letting the girl beside him carry on. 

Georgie didn’t let go of his hand. Martin let his mind drift, running through how ridiculous the entire day had been, really, and how up and down his emotions had been, and only really tuned back in when it was the hot guy’s turn to speak. “Oi,” he said, his smile bright. He seemed to be looking right at Martin, Georgie, and...well, Jon. Mainly Jon, maybe? Martin frowned. “I’m Tim, he/him, parapsychology, and I got an offer to be an exotic dancer once.” 

Oh. Martin was speechless at this...fun fact, but he looked over when he heard Jon mutter something that didn’t sound very kind under his breath. Jon was scowling. Martin frowned as well, trying to figure out what had upset Jon, and then. Oh. Tim. Timothy. Jon’s roommate Timothy who wouldn’t put on a shirt. 

Martin couldn’t help himself from sighing. 

He had a feeling he had maybe gotten himself in the middle of something. Tim was grinning across the room at them, Jon was scowling, Georgie was still holding his hand, and a girl named Alice was saying something about going hunting with her dad, and Martin felt...like he didn’t regret it. 

He hated to admit it, but he felt a little bit at home. 

When the meeting was over, Georgie had firmly said goodnight to Jon, told him to go work things out with the hot roommate and to stop whining about  _ skin _ , and shut the door in his face mid sentence. She turned back to Martin, smiling wide at him. 

“Sir,” she said, moving to rummage at her desk, coming back with a colorful sheet of paper and a box of crayons. “We have a door sign to make.” Martin couldn’t help his smile. 

**_Martin & Georgie’s Room  
_ ** **_No Assholes Allowed (except Jon)._ **

**Author's Note:**

> if u liked it, feel free to hmu on twitter/tumblr at @myhistoryread


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